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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — It started peacefully enough: A midday rally at City Hall and a march. But as the day wore on, Oakland was hit by the most turbulent protests in weeks as Occupy demonstrators clashed repeatedly with police, leaving more than 400 people arrested.

The demonstrations in downtown Oakland broke a lull that had seen just a smattering of people taking to Oakland's streets in recent weeks for occasional marches that bore little resemblance to the headline-grabbing Occupy demonstrations of last fall.

That all changed Saturday with clashes punctuated by rock and bottle throwing by protesters and volleys of tear gas from police, and a City Hall break-in that left glass cases smashed, graffiti spray-painted on walls and an American flag burned.

AP photos showing the flag burning — including images of masked protesters touching off the blaze, a woman urging protesters not to burn it, and another of an officer stomping out the fire — drew attention on social networking sites.

At least three officers and one protester were injured. Police spokesman Sgt. Jeff Thomason said there were more than 400 arrests on charges ranging from failure to disperse to vandalism,

On Sunday, Oakland officials vowed to be ready if Occupy protesters try to mount another large-scale demonstration. Protesters, meanwhile, decried Saturday's police tactics as illegal and threatened to sue.

The US Flag has a special meaning in my life. To me, it symbolizes everything I've spent the last 10 years wearing a uniform for, plus the 6 further years I'll be signing for in 2 weeks. It reaches me at almost a spiritual level you can say, no matter what I'm feeling when I look at it, everything just stops and a sense of strong pride fills me. It helps me realize that no matter how things are in life, what that flag represents something that I will always be proud to say I've devoted my life to protecting. It's probably the closest thing that I have to a spiritual guide in my life.

When I see actions like this, it makes me wonder how I can justify putting people like that before it. To continue protecting their rights to tread over everything that I hold dear in life. I know it is my responsibility to, but when I truly look within myself, I find that I cannot. I cannot truthfully stand up and say I defend the right of these people to deface America.

While I hold my head high with the duty I have and will continue to faithfully serve the good citizens of America, I just do not think I can blindly extend that umbrella to all American citizens anymore...

In most sports, cold-cocking an opposing player repeatedly in the face with a series of gigantic Slovakian uppercuts would get you a multi-game suspension without pay.

In hockey, it means you have to sit in the penalty box for five minutes.

They're wearing hankerchiefs on their face. How can anybody say these are regular people and not fringe movement people who are leading?

The leadership of an organization isn't the fringe, it's the leadership. If people don't want to be associated with this kind of conduct, they won't show up, or they'll act separately and repudiate the others. None of these things have happened. This is the face of the movement, complete with bandanas.

And, it gets worse. Another occupier posted his update to the Pledge of Allegiance over this video.

Occupy Pledge of Allegiance: “…and to the plutocracy for which it stands, the privately owned central bank, under the Jews…”
During yesterday’s hours-long rioting at the Occupy Oakland protest, the Occupiers burned a United States flag in front of Oakland City Hall (before later breaking in and smashing up irreplaceable antique museum exhibits in the foyer). Someone posted a video of the flag-burning to YouTube, and then added narration on top of it — his own rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance in an Occupy theme:

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the imperialistic capitalistic dictatorship, and to the plutocracy for which it stands, the privately owned central bank, under the Jews, with inequality and injustice for the 99.“

It’s not clear who made the narration and the video — it could be one of the Occupiers themselves, or a local Occupy sympathizer, or perhaps just some random guy on the Internet getting all excited seeing the Occupiers in action.

(The YouTube channel for the narrator has this self-description: “Combination of Technical analysis, marxism, monetary history, and mainstream economic analysis,” alongside a litany of Bay Area Occupy and “evil Federal Reserve” videos.)

But even if it was just some random guy, you’ve got to ask yourself:

When rank anti-Semites are inspired by your actions to rant about evil Jews controlling the banks, isn’t it time to re-think your message?

Looks like the Occupiers have embraced their leaders’ call to spread hate.

[ ...........mething that I will always be proud to say I've devoted my life to protecting. It's probably the closest thing that I have to a spiritual guide in my life.

When I see actions like this, it makes me wonder how I can justify putting people like that before it. To continue protecting their rights to tread over everything that I hold dear in life. I know it is my responsibility to, but when I truly look within myself, I find that I cannot. I cannot truthfully stand up and say I defend the right of these people to deface America.

While I hold my head high with the duty I have and will continue to faithfully serve the good citizens of America, I just do not think I can blindly extend that umbrella to all American citizens anymore...

300,000,000 citizens and a few thousand that think burning the flag is clever or deep. I'd bet the ratio hasn't changed much since 1900.

[INDENT]Occupy Pledge of Allegiance: “…and to the plutocracy for which it stands, the privately owned central bank, under the Jews…”
During yesterday’s hours-long rioting at the Occupy Oakland protest, the Occupiers burned a United States flag in front of Oakland City Hall (before later breaking in and smashing up irreplaceable antique museum exhibits in the foyer). Someone posted a video of the flag-burning to YouTube, and then added narration on top of it — his own rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance in an Occupy theme:

Some"one", singular, put "his" singular rendition of the Pledge on You Tube.

If you think I can't find a similar individual at a Tea Party rally, then you are indeed delusional.

The leadership of an organization isn't the fringe, it's the leadership. If people don't want to be associated with this kind of conduct, they won't show up, or they'll act separately and repudiate the others. None of these things have happened. This is the face of the movement, complete with bandanas.

And, it gets worse. Another occupier posted his update to the Pledge of Allegiance over this video.

Occupy Pledge of Allegiance: “…and to the plutocracy for which it stands, the privately owned central bank, under the Jews…”
During yesterday’s hours-long rioting at the Occupy Oakland protest, the Occupiers burned a United States flag in front of Oakland City Hall (before later breaking in and smashing up irreplaceable antique museum exhibits in the foyer). Someone posted a video of the flag-burning to YouTube, and then added narration on top of it — his own rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance in an Occupy theme:

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the imperialistic capitalistic dictatorship, and to the plutocracy for which it stands, the privately owned central bank, under the Jews, with inequality and injustice for the 99.“

It’s not clear who made the narration and the video — it could be one of the Occupiers themselves, or a local Occupy sympathizer, or perhaps just some random guy on the Internet getting all excited seeing the Occupiers in action.

(The YouTube channel for the narrator has this self-description: “Combination of Technical analysis, marxism, monetary history, and mainstream economic analysis,” alongside a litany of Bay Area Occupy and “evil Federal Reserve” videos.)

But even if it was just some random guy, you’ve got to ask yourself:

When rank anti-Semites are inspired by your actions to rant about evil Jews controlling the banks, isn’t it time to re-think your message?

Looks like the Occupiers have embraced their leaders’ call to spread hate.

A lot of people think that the issue should be whether they agree with the cause, not whether they agree with the other fringe beliefs. At least, that was the argument when ANSWER held their anti-war marches years ago.

That said, these people need to be slapped along with people who do work with them.

300,000,000 citizens and a few thousand that think burning the flag is clever or deep. I'd bet the ratio hasn't changed much since 1900.

Yes, but out of a few thousand occupiers, a few thousand think that burning the flag is clever. The percentage of Americans who want to burn the flag is probably well down into the low single digits. The percentage of occupiers who want to burn it seems substantially higher.

Originally Posted by Novaheart

Some"one", singular, put "his" singular rendition of the Pledge on You Tube.

If you think I can't find a similar individual at a Tea Party rally, then you are indeed delusional.

I didn't say that you couldn't (although the media has certainly tried their best to do so and come up short). However, whenever someone at a Tea Party event did anything even remotely racist, they were tossed and the leadership would disavow them as quickly as possible, and the rank and file often beat them to the punch. The OWS organizers have made it a point to ignore the antisemitism in their movement and made no attempt to repudiate it or prevent further outbreaks. The reason for this is that antisemitism is a major part of the worldview of the OWS crowd. As programmers like to say, it's not a bug, it's a feature.

Originally Posted by Lanie

A lot of people think that the issue should be whether they agree with the cause, not whether they agree with the other fringe beliefs. At least, that was the argument when ANSWER held their anti-war marches years ago.

That said, these people need to be slapped along with people who do work with them.

ANSWER didn't crack down on people who were using their rallies to foment violent overthrow of the US government, hatred or assorted other leftist causes because they agreed with them, not because they were willing to overlook differences in order to unite for a common cause. The war was just the pretext to lend urgency to their program.

But, what is the OWS cause? What does OWS stand for besides camping on other people's property and bitching about the inequities of the economic system that have provided them with a pretty cushy life? Sooner or later, you have to realize that what they say is what they mean. Their cause is what they present, a paranoid rant against capitalism, America, bankers, wealth (and those who have it), Jews, etc. It's who they are.

This is a suicidal move in the public relations department, Unless a group has the actual power to overthrow a government and replace it's flag burning it will only mean the demise of what ever group tries this means of protest, it doesn't matter what country it is done in.

The difference between pigs and people is that when they tell you you're cured it isn't a good thing.